Suminia

Name: Suminia.
Phonetic: Sum-in-ah.
Named By: M.‭ ‬F.‭ ‬Ivakhnenko‭ ‬-‭ ‬1994.
Classification: Chordata,‭ ‬Synapsida,‭ ‬Therapsida,‭ ‬Anomodontia,‭ ‬Otsheridae.
Species: S.‭ ‬getmanovi‭ (‬type‭)‬.
Diet: Herbivore.
Size: Skull about‭ ‬5.5‭ ‬centimetres long.
Known locations: Russia‭ ‬-‭ ‬Urpalov Formation.
Time period: Capitanian of the Permian.
Fossil representation: Skull and partial postcranial remains.

       Suminia is an interesting little genus of anomodont therapsid that lived in Russia during the Permian.‭ ‬Though the mouth was full of sharp and proportionately large teeth,‭ ‬wear patterns upon the teeth themselves indicate that they were being repeatedly used to process plant material,‭ ‬meaning that Suminia was herbivorous.‭ ‬The holotype specimen of Suminia was found in a sandstone sediment,‭ ‬leading to some suggestion that Suminia lived around river deltas‭ (‬assuming of course the body was not just washed down river‭)‬.‭ ‬The structure of the hand of Suminia shows that they were capable of grasping,‭ ‬strongly suggesting that Suminia may have in fact been an arboreal creature climbing through trees and larger shrubs to get at food.




Further reading
-‭ ‬A new Late Permian dromasaurian‭ (‬Anomodontia‭) ‬from Eastern Europe.‭ ‬-‭ ‬Paleontological Journal‭ ‬28‭(‬1‭)‬:96-103.‭ ‬-‭ ‬M.‭ ‬F.‭ ‬Ivakhnenko‭ ‬-‭ ‬1994.
- Cranial anatomy and phylogenetic position of Suminia getmanovi, a basal anomodont (Amniota: Therapsida) from the Late Permian of Eastern Europe. - Zoological Journal Linnean Society 130:329–73. - N. Rybczynski - 2000.
- The Late Permian herbivore Suminia and the early evolution of arboreality in terrestrial vertebrate ecosystems. - Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 276: 3611–3618. - J. Fr�bisch & R. R. Reisz - 2009.
- The postcranial anatomy of Suminia getmanovi (Synapsida: Anomodontia), the earliest known arboreal tetrapod. - Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 162: 661–698. - J. Fr�bisch & R. R. Reisz - 2011.



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